Chapter 20 Winter Solstice
Chapter 20 Winter Solstice
Xu Yiqing went out and got into the Santana across the street.
Du Yu was originally smoking while memorizing the license plates of the cars that came to the funeral. When he saw Xu Yiqing coming out, he quickly put out his cigarette and opened the window for ventilation.
"Why don't you go in?" Xu Yiqing asked.
This is an old tradition for the two of them. In the past, when a case was closed, they would both go to the funeral of the deceased to bid farewell to them.
Du Yu waved his hand and said, "I don't get along with Li Dusheng, so I won't go. After the funeral, I will go to Li Yueyue's grave to place a bunch of flowers during the holidays to show my love."
Xu Yiqing said: "I have told Li Dusheng, and he promised to let Zhao Qianyu go."
Du Yu nodded: "That's the best... By the way, have you read the official document in the group?"
Xu Yiqing shook his head, and Du Yu continued, "The colleagues in the anti-fraud department checked and found that the number that called Zhao Xiaomeng was from an overseas country, and the call was disconnected when they checked to Thailand."
This is not good news.
Du Yu looked at Xu Yiqing's silent expression and laughed: "Then I have good news. The higher-ups have decided to combine the Li Yueyue dismemberment case with the October 10.25 dismemberment case... and treat them as a serial case."
Xu Yiqing was stunned, then looked at Du Yu: "If they wanted to believe me, they would have believed me a long time ago. This little clue is not enough to merge the case. Did you say something to the director?"
Du Yu said, "Old Xu, I didn't believe that someone helped the murderer to dismember the body before, not because I didn't believe you... I'm a policeman, I have to have evidence, I can't just act on impulse. But now there is evidence, even if it's just a little bit, it's still evidence. So I signed a military order with the director, I won't be promoted until the real murderer who killed Li Yueyue is caught."
Xu Yiqing sat in the car, exhaled a breath, listened to the faint mournful music coming from his ears, and his eyes were firm: "We will definitely catch him!"
Du Yu patted his shoulder, signaling Xu Yiqing to relax, while also indicating that he should stand firmly with him to pursue the murderer.
"By the way, do you have anything to do today?" Du Yu remembered something.
Xu Yiqing thought for a moment and answered seriously: "Go home and do the housework."
He treats everything with full concentration, so what he said is as important as a student taking the college entrance examination tomorrow.
Du Yu laughed and joked, "The decoration of your house is so simple that the only difference from a rough house is the floor tiles. What is there to clean?"
When Xu Yiqing saw his words, he knew something was wrong: "Just tell me, what are the arrangements?"
Du Yu smiled even more brightly: "Today is the Winter Solstice, and we just solved a big case. The team plans to celebrate together. We specifically asked the canteen to prepare a special meal at noon, with dumplings and winter solstice balls!"
Xu Yiqing didn't like crowds and had no concept of celebrating festivals, so he wanted to decline.
"I don't really want to go..."
But Du Yu seemed to have foresight and had already started the car: "I have an important mission today. My colleagues in the Criminal Police Brigade have repeatedly told me to bring you here! You are the lucky star of our Criminal Police Brigade. With you and that young man Lin Sheng, the serious crime team has saved a lot of trouble! Everyone wants to thank you every day. It's almost the end of the year, so just give them a chance."
When you join the serious crime squad, overtime is common. When you encounter a major case, the time that criminal police spend with their wives and children is limited.
Xu Yiqing's ability saved them a lot of time to spend with their families, so everyone was naturally grateful.
It’s just that due to official duties and face, I seldom show my true feelings on weekdays.
But it’s different during festivals. The lively atmosphere will bring people closer together.
Xu Yiqing heard that since it was everyone's idea, he could not refuse the kindness, so he smiled and said, "It doesn't matter if you ask me to work overtime... What kind of dumplings do you want?"
"There are Chinese cabbage and pork, and leeks and eggs... I heard there are also celery and pork and sea urchin dumplings. I have never eaten sea urchin dumplings. There is a new cook in the cafeteria..."
Along the way, Du Yu chatted to himself, and Xu Yiqing listened while looking out the window.
The mournful music faded away and could no longer be heard.
I don’t know if it was because they were too far away or the wind had already blown through, so the masters took a break.
The dead are gone, but life must go on.
Xu Yiqing fantasized that one day there would be no more cases in Jiangcheng, and the autopsy table in the Forensic Department would be covered with dust, and he would have nothing to do but to resign.
What should I do then?
He sat in the car with his eyes closed and yawned.
Fortunately, there is still a lot of time to think about this issue, as domestic forensic identification still has a long way to go.
-
The celebratory luncheon of the Criminal Police Brigade started out as a flash of inspiration for a few officers smoking, and later developed into a gathering of friends and almost the entire Jiangcheng police force.
In fact, many people are afraid of trouble, and they always find excuses to postpone team-building activities at their workplace.
But today was different. When he heard Du Yu's promise that he would definitely call Xu Yiqing, there was no reason for him not to come.
In the Jiangcheng police force, who wouldn't want to give Xu Yiqing a face?
It’s just that Xu Yiqing himself didn’t realize this...or maybe he wasn’t good at these interpersonal relationships.
But as long as one is a capable and strong person, he will be respected.
Colleagues tidied up the office of the serious crime squad, moved all the desks to the side, and left a large open space in the middle to serve as a simple stage.
The cleaning that has not been done for years seems to become so easy in the face of strength in numbers.
People urged Du Yu to go on stage to perform. After all, he was the boss on weekdays, and no one would give up the opportunity to play a prank on him in such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
"Captain Du, the atmosphere is already so tense, how can you not dance?"
"Haha, my old waist can still dance!"
"Then singing a song is fine!"
Du Yu couldn't resist the enthusiasm of his colleagues, and he himself was willing to show off himself, so he sang Alan Tam's "Karaoke is Forever OK".
The passionate singing drew constant applause from the people present, and the serious crime team enjoyed the rare holiday and winter solstice. After cheering for the captain of the criminal police brigade, everyone in the serious crime team turned their attention to Jiangcheng Baiyueguang Xu Yiqing, and the shouts of "Come one, come one" came one after another.
Xu Yiqing smiled and waved his hands, indicating that he was tone-deaf, and pulled Lin Sheng, who was showing off his dumplings nearby, to take the blame.
He took out the harmonica he carried with him and accompanied Lin Sheng.
He joined a literary club in college, and although he didn't learn the complicated guitar, he could play the harmonica. With his excellent grades and rare talents, he was admired by many girls.
There is a behavior called "sapiosexuality" that is prevalent in human society. Both men and women will be sexually aroused by the opposite sex who are smarter than themselves.
However, in the face of those explicit and implicit hints, Xu Yiqing himself had no such intention and devoted himself to the pure forensic career.
This zither was given to Xu Yiqing by his mentor as a gift to show his favor and encouragement.
His mentor is a forensic expert who is well-known both at home and abroad. Now that he has surpassed his mentor, Xu Yiqing can be said to have taken over the legacy.
Mr. Lin sang a song called "Sudden Self" by Wu Bai. The popular tune was not difficult to sing and many people sang along, having a great time.
After the song was over, the party was in high spirits. Many people took the opportunity to toast Xu Yiqing, thanking him for his silent dedication over the years, which helped Jiangcheng avoid many unjust, false and wrong cases and gave the deceased the final justice.
Xu Yiqing had a low alcohol tolerance, so Du Yu suggested that he drink tea instead of wine. All his colleagues readily agreed, without a single complaint.
"Brother Xu, a toast to you!"
"Thanks to Brother Xu, last time my mom was sick and couldn't take leave, the Investigation Department worked around the clock, and thanks to your Forensic Department working overtime to help us... I'll do it if I don't say anything else!"
"Brother Xu, I brought you some tea leaves from my hometown. They are grown here. Don't be disgusted..."
Some veteran detectives patted Lin Sheng's shoulders with satisfaction and said encouraging words, asking him to learn more skills from Xu Yiqing so that he could stand on his own in the future.
Jiangcheng is in dire need of forensic doctors.
Lin Sheng admired his master the most. He agreed to all the requests and promised with a pat on his chest that he would take over Xu Yiqing's mantle in the future and carry forward forensic identification.
Looking at the enthusiasm of his colleagues, Xu Yiqing rubbed his temples and said with a smile: "It has been several years since it has been so lively."
He and Du Yu took advantage of the time when Lin Sheng was attracting fire and ran to a quiet place.
Du Yu also sighed: "Yes, I have been a criminal policeman for so many years, and I rarely have the leisure time like today... I want to be idle forever. There are not many cases in Jiangcheng, so it would be nice for me to be a traffic policeman."
Xu Yiqing joked, "Being a traffic policeman is also a hard life for you."
He noticed that the computer on Du Yu's desk was still on, with a paused video on it.
Even during the half day off during the afternoon of the winter solstice when the serious crime squad was on holiday, Du Yu had no plans to go home early to be with his wife and children. Instead, he was tinkering with something... It was obvious what case it was related to.
He pressed the spacebar to let the video continue playing.
It was a surveillance video of a street in Jiangcheng. Xu Yiqing recognized where it was through some familiar shops and street layout.
This is street surveillance near the City Center Hospital.
Because the original picture was paused, Xu Yiqing quickly locked onto the key figure in the picture——
A man wearing a long windbreaker and a hat. His face couldn't be seen clearly because of the road in between. I could only vaguely see that he seemed to be carrying something.
However, even though the camera was far away from the man, Xu Yiqing still noticed him immediately.
Because he was too familiar with that dress.
That was the brown woolen coat that his brother liked to wear. He knew without even thinking that he must have a round-neck knitted sweater underneath.
Because my younger brother wears this every winter.
Xu Yiqing is a nostalgic person, and so is his brother... Maybe all men are like this, they rarely buy clothes, and only have a few pieces of clothing that they wear in rotation for many years.
He watched carefully as his brother disappeared into the crowd across the street and sighed softly, his expression full of melancholy and nostalgia.
He could only take another look at his brother through the surveillance footage of these old case files.
He reached out and pressed the back button a few times, returning the screen to where Du Yu had paused it, and then asked casually, "Is this the surveillance footage of the October 10.25 case? I don't remember much of it. I watched these things related to the case every day a few years ago."
Xu Yiqing reached for the teacup. The cake he had just eaten was a bit too sweet and his throat felt uncomfortable.
He knew that Du Yu now believed in his judgment of the serious dismemberment case on October 10.25, so he dug out all the testimonies and evidence that had been sealed for a long time in the past few days, trying to find some clues.
This was probably surveillance footage from a period before the incident.
Unexpectedly, Du Yu was stunned, his face blank, obviously not knowing what Xu Yiqing was talking about.
"Lao Xu, what are you talking about?"
“This video.”
"This video?" Du Yu was even more puzzled. "This is the street surveillance near the Paradise Nightclub on the day when Li Yueyue's body was taken away by Li Dusheng. Li Yueyue's head was placed at the door of the nightclub. I wanted to see if there were any suspicious people...but I still can't figure it out."
Upon hearing this, Xu Yiqing's hand holding the teacup froze in mid-air. For a moment, he looked a little stunned and forgot to drink the water.
(End of this chapter)